


Hunted

by nah_she_didnt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, James Potter/Lily Evans - Freeform, Marauders, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:47:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28910343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nah_she_didnt/pseuds/nah_she_didnt
Summary: James and Lily both know what it's like to be hunted.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Hunted

**Author's Note:**

> One day I'll learn how to properly edit and proof read a fic before posting it at 1am. Today is not that day.

“I’m bored,” Sirius declared. He sat with his back on the Gryffindor common room’s carpeted floor, legs bent at ninety degrees to rest on the couch in front of him. He and James had been attempting to finish their Transfiguration homework for approximately 18 minutes. 

James grinned, his eyes trained on his paper. “If you don’t get this done McGonagall’s going to have your arse for breakfast.” 

“Kinky.” 

“Idiot.” 

Sirius sighed and stuck his legs straight up in the air. “Nah she wouldn’t, Minnie loves me. Told me so herself.” 

“Come off it,” scoffed James, still valiantly trying to writing his sentence. 

“She did! She said, ‘Black, you’re a god among men, my greatest pride and joy, your Transfiguration skills are the stuff of legends,’ then she kissed me on the forehead, turned into a Hippogriff, and flew off into the sunset.” He paused. “On second thought, it’s possible it was all a dream.” 

“No kidding,” James muttered, throwing down his quill and rubbing his eyes. At this rate there was no way he was going to finish his homework before nine. He only had 30 minutes before he, Sirius, and Peter had to leave the dormitory to prepare for midnight with Moony. 

As James contemplated his homework crisis, Mary McDonald slid into the seat on the couch next to Sirius’ legs. She sighed dramatically as she dropped her school bag down next to her, then threw her head into her hands. “Gentlemen,” she said, her voice muffled by her palms, “it’s been a horrendously long day.” 

“Do tell?” said Sirius, his interest piqued. Listening to Mary complain about her day was less boring than watching James do homework. 

Mary looked up. “Do you ever want to trap all the seventh year Slytherin boys in a cage, then drop that cage in the middle of the black lake?” 

Sirius grinned. “Once or twice.” 

“Well, after today, I reckon Lily and I have had enough of them for a lifetime.” 

James’ head snapped up from his desk. He would have to finish his homework tomorrow.

“What happened?” he demanded. 

Mary looked surprised at his outburst. “Blimey, calm down. We were walking to Charms today and got cornered by Mulciber. Nothing major,” Mary said sharply, noticing that James had opened his mouth to interrupt her, “at first it was just the the usual ‘moodblood’ this and ‘mudblood that,’ nothing we haven’t heard before. But he wouldn’t let us past him, right? Held us up for a couple minutes until finally we got our wands out. He was outnumbered and he knew it, but he still wanted to goad us, so he started saying shit about Lily’s house.” 

James felt his blood run cold. “What do you mean, what about her house?” 

“What it looked like, the color of the front door, what her father looked like when he came home from work,” Mary shuddered. 

“We’ll get him.” Sirius said darkly, “I’m going to kill him.” 

“Easy, Black,” Mary said firmly, “he hasn’t got anything coming to him that I can’t deliver.” 

“What happened then?” interrupted James, whose hands had curled into fists. 

Mary shrugged. “We blasted him out of the way and made it to Charms two minutes late. Flitwick told me I couldn’t hand in my essay because ‘if it isn’t on time, what good is it at all?’ Wanker. Now my whole average is down because Mulciber decided to be an arsehole.” 

“What happened to Lily?” James tried not to sound annoyed as he spoke. He didn’t care much about her Charms average. 

“Haven’t seen her since, she wasn’t at dinner. She said she wasn’t bothered by what Mulciber said, that he wasn’t a threat. But I know she was lying,” Mary sighed, ‘she’s been worried this would happen for months. Mulciber and his little friends know she grew up near Snivellus, and they know where he lives. It was only a matter of time.” 

James jumped to his feet. “Sirius, tell the others I’m going to be late tonight.” 

“Uh-” Sirius stumbled, choosing his words carefully in front of Mary, “I dunno, mate. Bit of a tight schedule tonight, yeah? There isn’t a ton of room for error.”

“I’ll be there, just go without me,” James promised, and jogged toward the portrait hole. 

He pulled the map out of his pocket as he clambered into the corridor. He knew that she often tutored younger students after dinner, so when he unlocked the map he scanned every classroom he could find, but her name did not appear. 

James considered every conversation he could remember having with Lily. She loved the cozy atmosphere of the greenhouses, the peacefulness of the library, and hated the Astronomy Tower due to her fear of heights. She often visited the dungeons to tend to overnight potions for their NEWT class, but James remembered her encounter with Mulciber and reckoned she’d be keeping her distance from anywhere near the Slytherin common room. Finally, he found her. 

Lily’s dot sat motionless along the shore of the black lake. 

James frowned. He’d never known Lily to sneak out of the castle at night. Over the years he’d seen her miss a curfew or two, but as Head Girl she never went so far as to stray from the safety of the school. Still, it made sense. Lily loved the lake, loved to take of her shoes and socks and walk out into the shallows. James tried not to think about another time when Lily sat by the lake, when she called him an “arrogant, bullying toe-rag.” 

James pulled the invisibility cloak out of his other pocket and threw it over himself. He was half-way down the hall before he stopped in his tracks. What was he doing? Did Lily even want to be found? Clearly, she had taken care to put distance between herself and castle. That must mean she wanted to be alone. Even so, James didn’t like the idea of her alone on the grounds at night, especially when Mulciber and his cronies were getting more restless by the day. Lily’s spot on the shores of the lake was not far from the Whomping Willow. He could sit under his cloak just far enough away from Lily to give her privacy, but close enough that he could watch her back. 

He set off at a brisk walk, satisfied with his plan. He strolled down the hallway, through a tapestry into a secret passage, then down a flight of stairs. Nearing the main entrance he decided to check the map again to make no one would meet him between here and the Great Hall.

To his surprise, Lily’s dot had vanished. 

“Shit,” muttered James, feeling panic set in his stomach. Where had she gone? Had someone else found her first? 

No, there it was. Lily’s dot was back inside the castle, moving through the Great Hall and toward the- 

James stuffed the map in his pocket and darted down the corridor into the Great Hall. He bolted for the door to the dungeons and hurtled down, trying his best not to trip over the ancient stones that made up the staircase. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he slowed his pace, still aware that he was invisible. He hurried around a corner and under an archway into a silent corridor. It was nearly 9. The Slytherins should all be in bed by now. 

He spotted a figure at the end of the corridor. Lily’s silhouette was just visible against the torchlight. She leaned against the wall tapping her wand against her leg nervously. She was waiting. 

James pulled off the Invisibility Cloak. It wouldn’t work to sneak up on Lily and scare her half to death. He would have to try the reasonable approach. 

He walked purposefully down the hallway towards Lily. Sensing movement, Lily looked up, and frowned. “Out of bed, Potter? On a school night?” 

James raised an eyebrow. “I could say the same for you.” 

“Yeah, well,” Lily glanced darkly at the Slytherin common room door, “I’ve got unfinished business here.” 

“I heard,” James took a step between Lily and the door, and Lily faltered. 

“Don’t,” she breathed, holding out her hand to brace his arm, “Don’t try and stop me. He’ll sneak out tonight, I know it, he sends owls secretly at night. Sending information. He’s done it since fifth year. Sev told me. He’ll want to tell them all he got to me. But I won’t - won’t just sit by and watch it happen.” 

James nodded slowly. “What do you think you’re going to do tonight, Lily? Kill him?” 

She flinched. “Jesus, James,” she said, fear in her voice, “no, I’m not going to kill him, what’s the matter with you? He just needs to know that my Dad is off limits.” 

James put his hand over hers that still clutched his arm. “It’s not smart, waiting for him here. He could have backup in a second. You could get in trouble, get detention, suspended, kicked out. You’re not thinking this through.” 

Lily laughed coldly. “That’s a bit rich coming from you, don’t you think?” 

James clutched her hand tighter. Her eyes finally met his. “Lily,” he whispered as he stepped back, pulling her gently down the hall away from the Slytherin common room, “not tonight, alright? We’re going to protect your family, I promise, but this isn’t the way.” 

Her eyes widened further, but she nodded in agreement. She silently allowed James to guide her down the hallway. She turned when they reached the stairs, threw one last contemptuous look towards the dormitory, then turned to walk up the stairs. 

“It’s not my family, you know,” Lily spoke so softly James almost couldn’t hear her, “it’s just my Dad. Petunia lives in London so she can be near her atrocious fiancee.” 

James nodded, not looking at Lily. He knew that her mum had died a few years ago. “Sounds like family to me.”

The reached the top of the stairs and entered the Great Hall. Lily shrugged, sliding onto a bench. “I guess I mean it’s not my whole family, though really he’s the only one I’ve got left. And it’s not his fault, right? That I’m a witch? Not his fault that he’s being hunted just because by some freak accident his daughter was born magic.” Lily stopped abruptly, afraid that her resolve would break if she continued. 

James sank into the seat beside her. They sat in silence for a moment, Lily trying to regain control of her composure. James wasn’t sure what he could say. He couldn’t relate, really, to what she was going through. She was a muggleborn, he was pureblood, he’d never know what it was like to be any other way. 

But he did understand some things. 

James sat up a bit straighter and wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders. “Did I ever tell you that our house was attacked this summer?” 

Lily started. “What? What do you mean, attacked? By who?” 

James grimmaced. “Take a guess.” 

She stared at him. “What happened?”

James sighed, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. “My folks have been with Dumbledore for a long time. My Dad was big at the ministry for a while, until he started speaking out against Voldemort. He and mum made their fare share of enemies, and I guess we got a bit lazy with our protective enchantments. They blasted a hole in the side of our house. Must have thought they would get my parents’ room.” 

Or my room, he thought suddenly, but he pushed the thought away hurriedly. 

“Anyway, they missed, got the library instead. But we had to beef up security after that. We’re unplottable, for now, and we’ve got caterwauling charms all over the place. Caught Sirius sneaking out one night to see Remus,” James chuckled.

Lily leaned a little closer to him under his arm. “That’s awful,” she muttered, twisting her hands in her lap. 

“Yeah, it was,” replied James, resting his cheek against the top of her head. 

They sat like that for a few minutes, silent, breathing together, touching but not caressing. Clinging to one another. 

Suddenly, the giant clock above the hall chimed. It was 9. 

James swore. “Shit. Lily, I’m so sorry, I have to go.”

Lily looked crestfallen. “Really? Well, alright, if you have something better to do than talk me off ledges.” 

“Would it make you feel better if I told you it was for Remus?” 

Lily’s face broke into a small smile. “Yes, it would.” 

“Well, it is. Here,” He pulled the cloak from his back pocket, “take this, you’ll need it to get back to the dorm without running Filch, or anyone else.” 

“What-” Lily’s mouth fell open, “is this an invisibility cloak?”

“Er, yeah,” James said awkwardly, “it was my Dad’s.” 

“Jesus,” she breathed, rubbing the fabric between her thumb and forefinger, “you’re a mysterious man, Potter.” 

“Yes I’m a regular Unspeakable, now you’ve got to go. Just keep that cloak safe, will you?” 

“Yes sir,” she said with a mock salute. Then she threw the cloak over herself and, he presumed, left the hall on her way to bed.


End file.
